Tough Mudder hires Club Med's Hiquet to stomp out marketing obstacles

BROOKLYN, NY: Tough Mudder, a military-style obstacle-course event series that raises money for wounded veterans, has hired former Club Med executive Jerome Hiquet as its CMO.

Hiquet joined the company on Monday, reporting to Tough Mudder cofounder Will Dean. He is overseeing global marketing, with director of global communications Ben Johnson reporting to him.

Hiquet has succeeded Carol Kruse, who was brought on as CMO last November but left this March. Kruse is serving as New York City chapter president for the CMO Club, according to her LinkedIn profile. Jesse Bull, SVP of brand and creative at Tough Mudder, has handled marketing in the interim.

Hiquet was not immediately available for comment on his new role.

Prior to Tough Mudder, Hiquet held various marketing positions at Club Med since 2008, most recently serving as VP of marketing for North America and VP of marketing and sales for Mexico, his LinkedIn profile states.

Previously, he worked at French ecommerce company Voyages-sncf.com as CRM director. Hiquet also previously served as a product manager at Accor Group in Paris.

Tough Mudder, which has about 150 full-time staffers, expanded from 53 events in five countries last year to more than 60 in seven nations in 2014.

Since it was founded in 2010, Tough Mudder participants have raised more than $7 million for veterans-service organization the Wounded Warrior Project and more than $1.6 million in the UK for Help for Heroes.